with leaves falling down…

(chapter 1)

He was almost afraid to fall asleep again. The cold sweat he could feel running down his forehead and neck was indicative that his dreams were a little less than sweet; his shaky hands were a little more than embarrassing, had he not been clearly alone. His eyes adjusted to the darkened room slowly, as he blinked past his heavy lids. He was back in a bed; a memory barely kept in the current recesses of his blackness of the ceiling was starting to create swirling lines of dim light and he closed them again briefly, before pulling himself away from the mattress, the soft blanket sliding down his bare chest to rest bunched at his lap. What had really happened back there? All he could seem to remember clearly was him. He had met him again…saw those eyes…again… He shifted slightly over to his right and looked out of the small window in the room. The moon was mid-sky; a radiant sliver of white. The moon…it reminds me of what I saw… on that sword… His eyes shifted back into the dark room and down into his lap. How much time had passed since that day? So much seemed so hazy. He flexed his hands as he gazed down at them. The cuts were barely visible now. He over turned them and looked into the palms. His eyes tried to focus on a faint outline…

He looked up. There was a presence at his door. He could see their standing shadow beneath the crack of it. They stood there, hesitating, and he could safely bet that the contemplating figure was Karin. His lips didn't move to grant her permission to enter. To be honest, though he was grateful for what he had learned that she did for him, he just wanted to be alone with his thoughts.

He ran his wobbly digits through his midnight locks, his eyes returning to their closed position as he lay back on his small bed, steadying his breathe from the lingering dream and listening to the fading sounds of Karin's receding footsteps and the faint sounds of the dark.

They'd been occurring every night, it seemed, since he'd returned to Eagle's makeshift base a little over a week ago. They were vivid, springing to life almost the instant he gave into deeper slumber, the REM of his body's sleep function thrusting visions of collapsing limbs no longer able to support the weight of their once able bodies as they fell victim to the cold steel slicing through the soft flesh. There were hundreds of faceless soldiers…all geared towards one destination…all meeting the same fate. Well, faceless, except, for the eyes. Every face that met his…contained those eyes…his eyes. Crimson orbs with intricate black stared back at him, piercing him even as their host lay lifeless at his feet, the lids refusing to give him relief. A haunting echo resounded through his mind as a quarter moon hung high behind him in the night sky. Every time it climaxed to this point, while he viewed the carnage of his swordplay, he strained to catch the words of the voice that encompassed his senses.

He reopened his eyes, widening them slightly to adjust to the darkness. He shifted towards the window again, focusing on the soft pale lighting shining through the small window. The glow was forgiving on his eyes and he let them linger over the tops of a few trees rustling in the breeze before looking back up towards the moon, which hung boldly in the center of his line of sight.

The moon; even in its simplistic imagery it appeared so complex. The ghostly white sphere reflected in his dark eyes and watching it had a calming effect as he noticed his breathing had finally steadied. He pulled himself away from the bed and onto his feet. Returning to sleep was not an option for him now, for he wasn't too eager to return to the nightmares.

Crossing the room, he grabbed his shirt from the back of a solitary chair. He slipped it over his shoulders, not bothering to tie it closed and headed out of his room quietly, his bare feet producing no sound as he strolled down the hall and out of the double doors. The air felt cool upon his exposed skin as he headed towards a small rocky ledge overlooking an expansive plain. He found a grassy spot and sat; his legs spread slightly, bending his left one to rest his left arm across it. It was a quiet night, save for a few lone coyotes howling at the moon. The moon…

"Hey, thought I heard you come out. Not thinking of leaving again, are you?" He turned to peer into the smiling face of the voice that had just strolled up behind him, her face aglow in the dim light of the night.

"Hm." His eyes drifted back across the plain.

"Aw c'mon, Sasuke, I'm teasing. Do you mind?" He shrugged his shoulders and she sat down a few feet away from him at his right side. She followed his example and looked out across the field, her eyes spying a few coyote on a late night hunt. "So…are you still having trouble sleeping?" His shoulders stiffened slightly at her words. "Sorry, sometimes…you call out at night…I'd come in to check on you and sometimes you'd have trouble waking. I wasn't trying to eavesdrop." He kept forward and the silence lingered a few moments between them. He could hear her clearing her throat before speaking again.

"So, what happened back there? You know…when you left? When I found you, the energy in that area was so intense I could barely stand myself. You were so battered…I didn't think you'd survive… If Jugo hadn't followed me, I don't know how I would have gotten you back. I thought…I thought I'd lost you."

She was afraid…to lose him? Someone who wasn't related to her, but she had risked coming to that battlefield to ensure his safety? Why? Is the answer to this where Naruto's pursuit lie? He turned to her and gave her a half grin.

"You worry too much." She returned a wider grin and rocked back on her derriere, wrapping her arms around her legs and lifting her feet slightly away from the ground beneath her.

"Well, you know I'd hunt you down any where, Uchiha." She shot him a sly look over the top of her glasses and he could feel his cheeks flushing, though he was unsure if it was from her words or from the truth of them. Brief flashes of the early days at the Academy cut through his mind and he held his restraint to keep from shuddering. Women.

"I couldn't save them."

"Huh?" she straightened slightly from her teasing and looked at him quizzically. "Save who?"

"He was standing there…with the same eyes I had that day, with the same horror. And I reacted the only way I could…the one way that seemed justified to me. I took the life of the one responsible. I took the anger I knew that kid's gonna have when what happens finally sets in and I did what I know he's gonna want to do. I killed. I took the lives of the meaningless to atone for the meaningful. I felt…like I was looking back at myself…and doing now what I couldn't do then. But that couldn't bring them back…it never does…" He felt he had said too much and returned to silently watching the open field. Karin watched his face return to its usual seriousness and wished just once that she could see him smile.

Whew! Naruto slumped against the dumpty burlap sack he allowed to crash to the floor upon entering is bedroom apartment. That seems to be the last of it. He noted as he viewed the main room for any more signs of clothing. Sakura had gone by his place while he was recovering in the hospital just like she said, but later revealed that she couldn't go anywhere near his "filthy underwear" as she put it. She stated (with an upturned nose, he noticed) that the best she could do was use a broom to shove them in the far corners in the back of the room, where they awaited his return.

He had spent all morning at the laundry house, watching what seemed like endless cycles of t-shirts, socks and, boxers. He knew that he shouldn't rest too long before he put them away or they will be there in the middle of his floor for weeks. Still, it felt good to relax, even for just a moment.

"Is this some secret training I don't yet know about?" Naruto's head shot up and around until he could see the owner of the voice behind him. His eyes landed on the smiling face of his pink-haired teammate standing in his open doorway.

"Ah, Sakura-chan! Uh…" He snatched up an exposed pair of boxers that had made their way out of the bag he been slumped against and stuffed them quickly behind him. "What brings you by?"

He could hear her soft giggling before answering. "I wanted to make sure you were settling back in ok. You know how you like to over do it when you leave the infirmary." He nervously scratched the back of his head with his left hand before standing to his feet, a smile of embarrassment spreading across his lips.

"I've been takin' it easy, I swear. Just doin' laundry, see?" He pointed to the number of bags behind him. "Thank you for helping me. This place would have been a real beast to clean if you hadn't helped."

Her face flushed a rosy pink as her lips parted to reply. "It was nothing, really. I knew you'd be too hurt to do it alone and I wanted to lend a hand. We're teammates, remember?" She stepped past the threshold and into the main area of the apartment where Naruto stood, red-cheeked; trying desperately to keep Sakura from seeing what she was trying to advert her eyes from. She'd had her fill of viewing his 'dedicates' while cleaning his place and shoving what she found into a corner.

She stepped further inside and made her way over to his dresser drawer and her eyes couldn't help but land on the dusty-glassed framed photo that mirrored her own at home. It was an image of a time gone past; it seemed ages ago to her. She ran her fingers across the worn wood encasing; reminiscing on the seemingly happier times of the soon to be fractured, Team 7.

"What happened between the two of you back there? You and…Sasuke...I…I know he was there. Neji was able to spot the two of you when we were scouting the area for the mission. The two of you fought again…didn't you?" She glanced over to her blonde teammate. He was now standing in front of a small round table, a bundle of clothes before him. His face was rigid as he steadily worked through the pile, folding a shirt slowly and placing it on the side. Sakura tilted her head to the slightly right to get a better view of his face.

"Hey, Naruto, didn't you hear-"

"Hey Naruto, you're wanted by the 5th." Shikamaru's lazy drawl wafted through his door where he stood leaning against the doorframe. His arms crudely folded across his chest where a crumpled pack of nearly full cigarettes was haphazardly stuffed in his left breast pocket. Both Sakura and Naruto looked over to acknowledge his words.

"Granny Tsunade wants to talk to me? Did she say for what?"

"No, and this is troublesome, so c'mon." he turned out of the door and stood waiting on the sidewalk. Naruto let the t-shirt he was holding drop back down onto the pile on the table and proceeded to head out of the door, his eyes never meeting Sakura's. She watched his back for a few moments before following him outside, closing the door behind her.

***

She had settled into what had become her classic "poker face"; her mouth and nose shielded behind her folded hands, only allowing the stern look of her eyes to peer in the faces of the people she was addressing. It was a fearsome look and it almost always gave her the results she wanted. Almost.

"What?! You got to be kidding me!"

"Naruto please! Calm down!" The green-eyed konoichi snarled.

"But, c'mon!" Tsunade could feel the vein over her left eye start to twitch.

"NARUTO! Uh, Master, please forgive him." She rushed out with bowed head; her hand forcing Naruto's to join hers.

"Sakura! Lay off the insane strength, will ya?" Sakura could feel her own eye begin to twitch.

"SILENCE!" Her hands had come down and pounded on the polished desk, flinging papers that were piled high across the top. "You brought this on yourself. You left the village without permission, and then you got involved in foreign affairs. Not to mention the dangers of the Akatsuki looking for the remaining Junchuuriki and we still don't fully know their next move. You have placed yourself in danger and on top of that, you got involved with a known rogue ninja."

Naruto's eye's narrowed as Tsunade's words struck his ears. He lowered his head, his eyes unfocused on the images below him. His breathing was uneven and his voice was unsteady as he spoke. She knew her words would sting the moment they crossed her lips, but she needed their effect then to calm the hyperactive shinobi down.

"He…Sasuke's not some 'rogue-nin'…he's still apart of this team. He's still apart of Team 7!" His head shot up and his eyes burrowed into hers. Sakura looked both panic-stricken and morose at the same time. She searched his face with her own watering eyes.

"I only left because…because I needed to…" he paused to breathe deeply, "when I met the monk, I didn't know what was going on at first, but he needed my help, so I couldn't abandon him. Meeting Sasuke…I didn't know I'd see him again…I couldn't leave without trying…"

Tsunade returned her hands to their upward position, returning to her stern look. Her heart ached at the young man's words, fully understanding the passion of them. If it was any other time she would consider overlooking Naruto's carelessness to plunge out and scout for his missing teammate, but matters had become much more serious as of late. Akatsuki had attacked several more villages in surrounding countries, killing countless people in search of their collection of the bijou. The pressure was coming down hard from the Elders, who were increasingly listening to the rebellious tone of her biggest opposition, Danzo, against her strategy towards the threat. She had done all she could to cover-up Naruto's absence but she needed to get him to understand the position he was putting her in…still…

"Naruto-"

"Granny…I promised I'd bring him back and I will…no matter how many times I fall, I'm gonna keep standing up until I succeed. You can believe that." His face looked downcast as he could no longer look her within the eyes. She could see the pain he carried and struggled to find the words to say aloud to him. Naruto…your loyalty is stronger than any diamonds. You are the true meaning of the Will of Fire!

Knock knock knock!

"Enter!"

"Lady Tsunade! Forgive me, I did not mean to interrupt. We've received a messenger bird."

"Shizune, is it an encrypted message? Do we know who it's from?"

"No ma'am, it's not encrypted. It appears to be from that place where we deployed the two teams during the rescue mission."

"Tayamura?" Naruto's head lifted at the presentation of the message even as the Hokage took the small rolled paper from her assistant.

Her eyes scanned over the scrap quickly, her lips thinned as she pressed them tightly.

"This is from the head monk, an Elder Isao."

"Old man Isao? Really? Let me see! Is he ok?" He rushed to the side of her desk to the shock of Sakura and Shizune.

"Naruto please! I can barely read it!" She shifted away from him as he reached out for the paper and continued to gaze over it. "It's a letter of thanks and apologizes for involving you in his affairs."

Naruto straightened his stance and looked out of the large picture window directly behind Tsunade. "Isao-sensei…the villagers…I wonder if they're ok."

She breathed out a sigh and leaned back into her chair, closing her eyes as her back felt the leather of the upholstery. She hoped she wouldn't regret the decision she was about to make, but she wanted to make sure she was a few steps ahead of that damned Danzo. She was uncertain of Akatsuki's next move, but she was sure of what they were hunting. If she deployed Naruto on a mission to a country where no known bijou were recorded having, then her team and operatives could develop a better plan of action.

"Naruto, I'm assigning you on a mission."

"Really? Alright--!"

She raised her hand and stopped his jovial expression.

"I'm assigning you on a restoration mission to Tayamura. According to this letter, the rebuilding is being organized now and should be beginning by the time you reach the country. I want you to extend the friendship of the Fire country and offer your assistance where needed."

"Lady Tsunade, is that wise to send Naruto alone? What about the Akatsuki? We really can't spare the work force to go with him. We're even assigning genin to handle a few assignments."

"Don't worry, Shizune. We can allow for an escort group. They will accompany Naruto to the small northeastern country and report back as soon as he is settled. I will redeploy a different group by missions end and they will take a different route back to the village."

"And the village's civil matters? Does the monk make mention of those?"

"Hm. Not much. And from what we've learned from Hyuuga Neji's report, the battle they'd help diffuse was from an attempt to stop the insurgence that had formed within their country and seemed to halt after the death of their leader. So," she turned her stern eyes back to the blond, "you leave in the morning. You'll meet the escort team at the break of day in front of the main gates. You'd best be prepared by then!" She shouted and shook her head at his broadly smiling face even as he was rushing out of the door top speed.